Miracles of Ancient Wonder
by ShadowBurner
Summary: After 500 years, X reawakens in Remnant as the last of his kind. He must now join forces with Team RWBY to forge new friendships and gain new powers in preparation for a battle with the greatest threat their world has ever known. A force more dangerous than either Sigma or the Grimm. The Ultimate Nullifier is rising. "Characters" section subject to change.
1. Prologue: Awakening

**Miracles of Ancient Wonder- Mega Man X and RWBY Crossover.**

**So recently I got into watching RWBY. Episode 1 was downright bad in several aspects, but it got tremendously better as time went on. I am now proud to say season 2 can't come fast enough, and that I beat Grim Eclipse like 5 times in one day xD.**

**Ahem. In this story, Remnant and X's world are the same, Faunus and Humans have always both existed, and X6 through ZX: Advent never happened. This story takes place 500 years after the end of X5.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Mega Man X series, and I do not own RWBY. The Mega Man franchise is the property of Capcom, and RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.**

"...How persistent... ...you are... ...Die... ...Sigma..."

END PLAYBACK

The year is 25XX. On the continent of Vytal, a man with gray hair had just made a tremendous discovery under Beacon Academy. This man was Professor Ozpin, headmaster of the school in question. The discovery? That which was long since lost- a surviving member of a race that was pushed to extinction in the conflict between said race, humans, faunus, and the Creatures of Grimm, soulless abominations that crave only destruction. The race in question was that of the Reploids, a species said to have been created by the fabled "Light". Machines that could think and feel just as humans and faunus could. And one- ONE- had survived.

"X…" Ozpin said, his thin brown eyes staring intently at the capsule.

"So the legends were true. And to think, you had been hidden under Beacon all this time, and no one had noticed. I feel your strength will be useful in the coming conflict." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee as the sound of a projector turning on caught his attention. "Mm?" He turned and was greeted with the sight of an elderly man that seemed to resemble Santa as a blue light filled the room.

(Insert music here: /watch?v=rLuN2qRkM4o)

"My name is Doctor Thomas Light," The projection spoke. "Before my death, I uploaded my consciousness into a network of these capsules so I could watch over and guide my greatest crea…. No, my son, X, in a world I feared would be torn apart by war. You, who seek to awaken him for conflict, who are you, and what is your reasoning? Why should I trust my child to you?"

Realizing he was speaking to no mere hologram, but the actual "Light" himself, Ozpin straightened his suit. "My name is Professor Ozpin, and I am the headmaster of Beacon Academy, a school that trains its students to become Hunters." Ozpin began. "All life on Remnant was once devastated by creatures known as the Grimm. X is the only Reploid left, and the Grimm have begun acting more aggressively towards villages and such. I believe X's power can help us finish them off for good, and that he and my students can learn many things from another."

"Ah, so it is as I feared. The War of Darkness came to pass after all," Light's tone grew somber. "This is of course, the reason why I sealed X away after I finished repairing his wounds from the final battle with Sigma. I sealed him for the same reasons you now wish to awaken him. To ensure the survival of humanity. And the Faunus, of course, but I see no logical reason to refer to them as a separate species. You have my blessing, Professor. Do not betray my trust." And with that, the projection vanished.

(End music.)

Ozpin sighed as the room dimmed. "Not many people know why 'Hunter' was chosen to be the name of those who battle the Grimm." The gray haired man smiled to himself. "It is because of your legacy, Doctor. The Legendary Hero, Maverick Hunter X. I thank you for your consent in this matter." Ozpin pressed a button on the console's control panel, and a loud sucking sound could be heard as air raced back into the vacumn of X's resting place. X's systems began to recover from an extended sleep, his optic sensors taking the longest. As the blue clad robot opened his eyes, he observed a man in a black suit with a green scarf standing in front of him. X pushed himself up out of the capsule and onto the floor.

"Who… Are you?" X asked the man. The man simply smiled and said

"I am Professor Ozpin, and I was hoping you would visit my academy, Mega Man X. There are also a few people I would like you to meet.

"But I… Zero! We were fighting Sigma, and Zero finished him off… I'm sorry, but I have to get back to base! My friends and unit are waiting for me!"

Ozpin's expression turned grave. "You really don't know, do you X?" X looked on in confusion, as the man called Ozpin began to explain. "You see, X, there was a war a few years after you fell asleep."

X was shocked. His eyes widened, and Ozpin noticed a slight change in pressure in the ancient laboratory. "A war?!" X shouted. "Between who? Who won? How many died!? Please, tell me! I have to know!"

"A war between humanity, faunus, Reploids like yourself, and beasts known as Grimm. Technically, the Grimm 'won.' Eighty percent of humans and faunus were wiped out. And you, X, are the only Reploid still alive, five hundred years later. I am terribly sorry."

**WHAM! So yeah, this story is going to feature X working alongside Team RWBY as a student and sometimes-teacher at Beacon Academy. As for a certain long- haired Reploid, well, He's hidden himself while he repaired himself before, so who knows what'll happen with him. EVERY. OTHER. REPLOID. IS DEAD. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS THIS STORY, I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. REPLOIDS ARE NEAR EXTINCT. Anyway, GigaBatz signing off here. Hope you enjoyed it! Please don't forget to review and give me any !CONSTRUCTIVE! criticisms you may have. Flames or attacks on other reviewers/authors will NOT be tolerated.**


	2. Chapter 1: Revealing

**I have returned! In case anyone is wondering, the title of this story is a line from the first opening song for RWBY, "This Will Be The Day." …..And it means I practically HAVE to include a certain someone, as "Miracles" in the title is PLURAL. There might be little things like that throughout the story, so keep your eyes open! Anyway, this chapter has X introduced to the school. Oh, and if anyone has any ideas for eight new special weapons, please tell me. Otherwise I'll pick eight random ones off the wiki.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Mega Man X series, and I do not own RWBY. The Mega Man franchise is the property of Capcom, and RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.**

"You really don't know, do you X?" X looked on in confusion, as the man called Ozpin began to explain. "You see, X, there was a war a few years after you fell asleep."

X was shocked. His eyes widened, and Ozpin noticed a slight change in pressure in the ancient laboratory._ He truly is powerful…_ Ozpin thought. "A war?!" X shouted. "Between who? Who won? How many died!? Please, tell me! I have to know!"

"A war between humanity, faunus, Reploids like yourself, and beasts known as Grimm. If you wish to be technical, the Grimm 'won.' Eighty percent of humans and faunus were wiped out. And you, X, are the only Reploid still alive, five hundred years later. I am terribly sorry."

X fell to his knees, the sound reverberating through the abandoned lab. "Why….?" He whispered softly.

"Why… wasn't I there? So many dead… an entire race- MY race, GONE! Because I took a NAP!" X shouted out, an animalistic scream of pain that wrenched at Ozpin's heart. The gray haired man's voice took on a more soothing tone, like a parent trying to comfort their child.

"X," he spoke. "X, it wasn't your fault. You had no idea the war was coming. NO one did. Nobody could have stopped it."

"I STILL SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!" Ozpin was taken aback at the pure… rage that filled X's voice.

_He really can feel emotions. Deeper than most humans, even._

X's rage would not subside. If anything, the blue robot's voice got even louder. "BILLIONS OF INNOCENT LIVES, LOST! I COULD HAVE SAVED THEM!" A faint teal light began to illuminate the dark room. X was glowing.

"_That light! Could it be Aura? Does he... have a soul?" _ Ozpin decided that if he didn't calm X down right then, it was likely that the school would collapse.

"X, there was NOTHING you could do that would have mattered. While it is true you would likely have saved many lives, you yourself would have fallen in battle. That is why Dr. Light- your father- made the decision to seal you away."

X whirled around to face Ozpin directly. He could tell that simply mentioning X's creator had begun to calm him. The light was fading. Darkness returned to the room.

If X had tear ducts, he would have been crying. Instead he simply asked in a saddened voice "Dr. Light… sealed me here…. So that I wouldn't die?"

Ozpin nodded and smiled gently. "Yes. He foresaw mankind's eventual extinction at the hands of the Grimm. He sealed you so you could survive the war, and defeat the Grimm for good later on. I know it seems heartless, but the long term survival of a species is more important than the short term survival of some of its members. Do you understand, X?"

X was conflicted._ I know what he's saying is true. I understand that. But so many innocent people have died. How many more… until true peace is achieved?_

X had made up his mind. He would agree to Ozpin's proposal. "Yes. I understand. I might not like the idea of letting any number of people die, but… sacrifices have to be made sometimes. I'm ready, Professor. Where is your academy?"

"Please, call me Ozpin, X. You have accomplished far more than me. As for the academy, we are underneath it right now."

"Wha- really? …I wonder if that's a coincidence."

**(BREAK SCENE) In case the line doesn't show up.**

Beacon Academy's amphitheater was packed with many more students than usual. When they had heard over the intercom that Headmaster Ozpin had discovered something that could help destroy the Grimm for good, even the laziest of slackers felt compelled to see what it was. Oddly, most of the students appeared as pitch-black figures. Only the members of Teams RWBY and JNPR were clearly visible. Team RWBY was currently discussing what their Headmaster had found.

Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY, a young, black haired, silver-eyed girl dressed in a black blouse and a skirt with red trimmings, was the first to speak. "What do you guys think Professor Ozpin is going to show us?" Her eyes lit up like stars. "OH! I bet it's a new type of weapon!"

Weiss Schnee, a girl with long white hair pulled into an off-center ponytail wearing a pale blue bolero jacket over a similarly colored thigh-length dress, rolled her light blue eyes at her teammate's comment.

"Of COURSE it's going to be a new weapon, you dunce! Did you even pay attention to the announcement?" Ruby blushed and hung her head. Her sister, Yang Xiao-Long, a girl with long blond hair and lilac eyes, wearing a tan vest with gold piping over a yellow, low-cut crop top and black shorts under her belt, gave a bright smile and laughed.

"I'd have thought you of all people would've paid extra close attention to that part, sis."

There was a tapping at the microphone placed on the raised stage in the center of the amphitheater .

"Guys, it's starting," said Blake Belladonna, the fourth member of the team. Blake is a young girl of pale complexion, similar to Ruby and Weiss. She has long, wavy black hair, and her eyes are amber, complemented by light-purple eye shadow flaring backwards. Her eyes are slightly tilted upwards at the ends, giving her a somewhat catlike appearance. Blake wears a black ribbon tied in the form of a bow which she almost never takes off, even when she goes to sleep. She wears black low-heeled boots and stockings that start off black at her hips, but gradually fade to purple as they near her shoes. She also wears a black buttoned vest with coattails, and a white, sleeveless undershirt that exposes part of her midriff with white shorts that may be connected to her shirt, although it is partly obscured by the vest. Her shorts have a zipper on the front of each leg. Blake also wears a detached scarf-like collar around her neck.

Once all of the students were focusing on him, Ozpin took a short sip of his coffee, and began to speak.

"Students of Beacon Academy," he began, "All of you are here so you can become great Huntsmen and Huntresses one day. I am sure all of you know this. Today, I am proud to introduce a new applicant to Beacon. I hope that you will be able to learn from and help each other. Any questions so far?"

Ruby rose her hand into the air. "Yes, Miss Rose?"

"Professor, I thought you called us here to talk about a new weapon?"

"Ah, yes, of course. You see, this new student IS the new weapon I was referring to."

Many of the students were confused. "How can one student be a new weapon capable of destroying the Grimm?" one asked.

(Insert Music: /watch?v=5E3NoOG6gRw) (start at 1:53)

Ozpin smiled and took a deep breath before proceeding. "You are all aware of the stories of the Maverick Wars, yes? The Ancient Catastrophe that brought forth the Grimm, Lumine Infinitus: Protector of Humanity. You have heard legends of the Reploids. Machines that share our appearance. Machines that can think, feel, and make their own decisions."

Weiss frowned and spoke up. "But professor," she said, "The Reploids are JUST a legend. Nothing more, nothing less!"

"I have to agree with her, prof. No proof of a single Reploid's existence has ever been recorded," Yang spoke, a slightly confused look on her face.

"It is true," Ozpin continued, "That no proof of the Reploids ever having existed has been recorded. Until recently, that is. I have made an incredible discovery under this very school." Ozpin then turned around and began speaking to someone the students could not see. They were all (Ruby especially) confused. "You may reveal yourself now."

The sound of metal clanking echoed throughout the area, as an azure clad leg stepped into the light on stage. The rest of the figure's body followed shortly, allowing the students to get a good look at who their headmaster had been speaking to. The figure appeared to be a male in his late teens, and the rest of his body was adorned with the same kind of brilliant blue armor, with his thighs and upper arms covered with cyan armor instead. His upper torso was covered by a sectioned chest plate, with an indigo color for the lower section. He wore a helmet on his head with cyan-colored sharp ridges, and a red crystal on its forehead. He looked out over the crowd of students with emerald eyes, and Ruby felt a chill when her silver eyes met his green. The figure held his gaze for a moment, and turned away.

Ruby shivered. Yang looked down at her sister. "What's wrong sis?" She asked with concern.

Ruby looked back at Yang. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what?" Yang knew her sister was sensitive to Aura, but that was usually only when she was using her own. _For this guy's Aura to be felt by Ruby now, he must be really powerful. _"Was it his Aura?"

The younger black haired girl shook her head slightly. "No. That's exactly it, Yang. I felt power. Power that wasn't tied to anything. Sis, he- He doesn't HAVE an Aura."

"That's impossible!" Weiss snapped at Ruby. "The only creatures that don't have an Aura are the Grimm! And whoever that is, he's CLEARLY not a Grimm!" Blake's bow twitched slightly, and as the other members of RWBY had recently noticed, this meant she was thinking about something.

"Maybe he's a machine? Ozpin DID start off this assembly by talking about the Reploids. Maybe he's one of them."

Weiss frowned. "But no one has EVER proven they exist! Honestly, how can you all think that-" she started, but was interrupted by Ozpin clearing his throat as an image of the figure's face appeared on the monitors up above him.

**NAME: X**

**AGE: 500+**

**COMBAT PARAMETERS**

** STRENGTH: B-**

** SPEED: C**

** SKILL: D+**

** INTELLIGENCE: C**

** AURA: UNKNOWN**

** POTENTIAL: S+**

**WELCOME TO BEACON ACADEMY NEW STUDENT**

Ozpin smiled as he took in the shock on the student's faces. _Let it never be said I don't enjoy a good joke every now and then._ He thought to himself. _ Leaving his Aura rating as unknown was a nice touch. _"Students of Beacon Academy, I present to you the legendary Reploid: Mega Man X!"

**Good GOD this took me too long. Sorry, at first I was busy with graduation, then Summer procrastination, then I got caught up with trying to apply to colleges. AND THE FAFSA WAS SO ANNOYING TO FINISH! I also have Let's Plays on my Youtube channel on the off chance you are interested. My current one is Mega Man Network Transmission. Just search for "GigaBatz" and you should find it.**

**Honesty time. X and a certain someone are NOT going to be the only Reploids in the story. I plan on bringing Vile in at a future point. But I'm not sure how. If you have any ideas for this, please let me know. Thanks gaiz. ShadowBurner, AWAY!**


	3. Chapter 2 (1): Testing (Part 1)

**Back again. First I would like to thank ShadowWarriorOmega for the excellent suggestion he made regarding Vile's introduction. As for everything else: **

**To CobaltGale: Really? Well thanks!**

**To ZXEclipse: …I refuse to answer that this early into the story.**

**To zero: No, X will not be paired with anyone.**

**To Firem78910: I have no idea what a cattleya is, but it sounds more badass than my idea for an electricity themed Maverick. It was **_**THUNDER LEMUR**_**. Seriously.**

**To drake202: Glad you enjoy it. 1.) I believe Capcom made an official statement that the Mega Men drop their upgrades at the end of each game so they don't risk becoming corrupted by power. HOWEVER, in X5, he DOES use Frost Tower in battle against Zero, so they are presumably stored at the Hunter Base. Which no longer exists. 2.) Romantic pairings? No.**

**To enigma95: Well, those were the ratings Ozpin gave to X based on what little he knew about him. But yes, 500 years of sleep has reduced X to somewhere around his original stage of power.**

**If anyone has ideas for new Special Weapons, please let me know!**

**At certain intervals throughout the story, X will obtain new abilities/armors. That being said, here is a list of the upgrades X has internalized into his systems as shown by Project X-Zone. (Check that game out if you haven't already btw.)**

**Emergency Acceleration System (First Armor Foot Parts): Allows X to perform dashes at high speeds, and instantly reach top speed from a stand still.**

**Cross Charge Shot (Third Armor Arm Parts): Allows X to charge his Buster up to four stages. At the fourth stage, he can fire Charge Shots from both arms in succession.**

**Hovering (Fourth Armor Foot Parts): Allows X to hover in mid-air. This has a time limit that decreases the more he moves. **

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Mega Man X series, and I do not own RWBY. The Mega Man franchise is the property of Capcom, and RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.**

"Students of Beacon Academy, I present to you the legendary Reploid: Mega Man X!"

Those were the words that caused X to find himself in his present situation. Running down the halls of Beacon, away from a large group of teenagers that were chasing him. Some of them wanted to ask him questions, some wanted his autograph, but most of them wanted to fight. _I have no problem with fighting as long as it's just for practice or competition,_ our blue hero thought to himself_, but these kids have no way to protect themselves! My buster would tear right through them! _

X turned his head back to observe his pursuers, and saw the black haired, red cloaked girl from the assembly was following at a MUCH higher speed than the rest of the crowd, a determined expression on her face. X's eyes widened in shock as he turned a corner. _How is she moving so fast? That speed shouldn't be physically possible for a human!_ Looking forward again, his cybernetic eyes noticed a door at the end of the hall that read "Supply Closet. Beacon Staff Only." There was a hurriedly scrawled note attached to the door that read "This means STAY OUT, Yang Xiao Long!" X smiled in triumph. _I have no idea who 'Yang' is, but this is a perfect hiding spot! _He dug his heels into the floor to brake, than franticly looked back, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the girl was no longer chasing him. X ducked into the closet and hugged the floor as he listened for the crowd of students as they rushed past the door. Feeling it was safe, he got up, opened the door… and found the girl from earlier standing outside, waiting for him.

"Hello!" she said with a smile on her face. X simply stared at the girl.

"Where did you come from?" He asked her.

The girl simply grinned wider. "The air vents! My sister showed me how to use them! Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, sure. Go ahead."

The girl gasped, and sparkles appeared in her eyes. _Oh no._ X thought, as she began to speak so fast that he could barely understand her.

"Ohmygoshareyoureallyareploidmyfriendblakesaidyouwerebutmyotherfriendweissdidntbelieveherbutyouareohareyouahunterwhatsyourweaponminesascytheitscalledcrescentrosedoesyourshaveaname-"

Unbeknownst to them, Ozpin was watching through one of the security cameras, smiling. "I think miss Rose has had enough fun for now," he said to himself as he pressed down the button for the school's intercom.

"Students of Beacon Academy, this is your headmaster speaking. All of you are to report back to the amphitheater. There will be a special demonstration of X's abilities. I must ask all of you not to harass him until this demonstration is over. X, please report to the Beacon Cliffs."

The girl gasped again. "Oh, sorry, I have to go! My name's Ruby it was fun to meet you bye!", she yelled as she ran off. X blinked a few times as a cloud of…

"Rose petals?" fell to the floor and disappeared. "…These kids are not normal," X said. The blue Reploid looked around in confusion. "Wait. Which way was it to the Cliffs again?"

After what felt like hours, X finally made his way to the Beacon Cliffs, where Ozpin was waiting for him.

"Ah, X. I see you made it after all. I was beginning to think you had gotten lost."

X laughed softly. "I DID get lost, Professor. What was the demonstration I was going to be giving, again?" The grey haired man smiled and motioned X over to a metal pad on the ground, scarf fluttering softly in the wind.

"You are going to undergo the Beacon Academy Initiation. Your goal is to retrieve one of the relics from the abandoned temple deep within the Emerald Forest." Ozpin motioned his hand out in front of the cliffs, and X saw a vast expanse of lush, green trees. It had been a long time since he had seen nature of any kind, much less nature untouched by technology. He closed his eyes and relaxed, feeling the gentle breeze across his face, and stepped onto the pad. "Oh, and I hope you have a good landing strategy," Ozpin smirked.

X opened his eyes at this. "What are you- WAAAAHHH!" he cried out as the metal pad launched him high into the air. X flailed about for a while before his internal gyroscope straightened him out. As he fell, he thought back to his first mission as a Maverick Hunter- working to subdue an out of control Mechaniloid. _I guess this is appropriate, _he thought. _Just like then, this "first mission" is starting out with me falling to the ground. _

Back in Beacon's amphitheater, the students were all watching X's fall to the forest floor on the large monitors suspended over the stage. Jaune Arc, leader of Team JNPR, was watching intently, with a frown on his face. Jaune is a teenage boy with messy blonde hair and dark-blue eyes. He wears a white chestplate and shoulder armor. Under the armor, he wears a black hoodie with reddish-orange sleeves. He also wears blue pants with a white patch on the left knee and black shoes with his symbol on the soles.

He has two belts crisscrossing his waist, both different shades of brown, with a pair of small pouches on them. Jaune wears brown wrist-length gloves with exposed fingertips and a small metal plate on the back. "Seriously? Nothing? No fancy tricks?" Jaune questioned. "He's just gonna fall like that?"

"Booorrring!" cried out Nora Valkyrie, one of Jaune's teammates. Nora is a young girl of the same age as Jaune. Nora has short orange hair and turquoise eyes. Her clothing seems to be a mix and match of some sort, with different colors and themes. She wears a collared black vest that ends at her waist. Her signature symbol, a hammer with a lightning bolt, can be found on the back. Under the vest are two layers of clothing, colored red and light-blue respectively.

She also wears a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape between her cleavage and collarbone, with a white detached sleeve on each arm. She wears matching fingerless gloves on each hand. She sports a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh. Her shoes are a mix of pink and white with pink laces, and display her symbol on their soles.

She also seems to wear some sort of armor that begins in the middle of the shoulder and neck and ends by the waist. It seems she has a light-gray or off-white bow at the back of her skirt, with ribbon extending to the skirt's bottom. Nora gasped and grabbed one of their other teammates, Lie Ren, by the shoulders. "Hey Ren! Do you think he knows what a sloth sounds like?" she asked her friend rather loudly. Lie Ren is a male teenager with long black hair and a ponytail that ends midway down his back. There is a magenta streak on the left side of his hair, and his eyes are the same color. He wears a dark-green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming goes down the right side of his torso and forms a black collar. He wears black undersleeves beneath the suit, and light-tan pants with black shoes.

"He might," Ren responded before looking over to his leader. "And didn't Pyrrha have to pin you to a tree to keep you from crashing, Jaune?"

Jaune sighed lightly. "….Yeah."

"Sorry again, Jaune," Pyrrha apologized to their leader again. Pyhrra is a teenage girl with red hair, of the same age as the rest of her team. Pyrrha wears her red hair in a waist-length ponytail and has vivid green eyes. She also wears light-green eyeshadow around the upper-corners of her eyes.

Her top consists of two layers. The top layer is a light-brown, strapless top split into two vertically with some bronze patterns. This may be a piece of leather or metal armor as it appears to be quite stiff, maintaining its shape without support; this layer also seems to have some kind of riveting or small, round embroidery on the sides, which may also be heavy stitching. The bottom layer is a low bronze V-neck. Pyrrha wears an elastic, red, A-line miniskirt that ends mid-thigh and brown cut-off sleeves on both arms. She wears a red ankle-length drapery that appears to be wrapped around her skirt.

There is a small circular bronze plate by her right hip opposite a pouch with both connected to a belt.

She wears a bronze circlet headpiece that can be seen above her ear and under her bangs. A pair of small, green, teardrop-shaped emeralds hang from her circlet on thin chains. She also sports a large bronze gorget around her neck, and a bronze bracelet on the upper half of her left arm. She has elaborate bronze greaves that start below mid-thigh, continuing downwards into her boots and a pair of cuisses that begin mid-thigh and end slightly above her knees. Her boots are brown with bronze trim, matching her skirt and sleeves, and reach up to mid-calf.

On the other side of the room, Team RWBY watched X's fall intently, Weiss more so than her teammates. She still wasn't fully convinced he was a Reploid, and the white haired girl watched with a scowl on her face as X flipped over. Once he had made contact with the ground, he rolled forward on the grass, standing up and taking a quick survey of his surroundings. A howl sounded through the clearing, and X looked in its direction before turning away and heading into the forest.

_Alright then X, _Weiss thought narrowing her eyes a bit, _Let's see what you can do._

Deep in the forest, a mass of shadows twisted, and blood-red eyes glared out towards this unknown intruder their owner had sensed.

The hunt had begun.

**Okay, this took longer than I wanted it to, but I got about twice as much done as last time, and it didn't take a whole month, so that's something. If anyone wants, I could post my other Maverick ideas. (I warn you though, some of them are…. Weird.) Network Transmission will be ending soon, as well. After that, I'll be playing Pikmin. As always, your support is appreciated. ShadowBurner, AWAY! *Flies off on a pizza rocket***


	4. Chapter 2 (2): Testing (Part 2)

Hunting

**Alright guys, first of all, I would like to let you all know that this chapter was written by none other than ShadowWarriorOmega! I couldn't do any work on this for a while, due to some personal issues, but everyone be sure to thank him for the work he put in for us! I really appreciate it dude. With that said, let's get this show on the road.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Mega Man X series, and I do not own RWBY. The Mega Man franchise is the property of Capcom, and RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.**

Once X had made contact with the ground, he rolled forward on the grass, standing up and taking a quick survey of his surroundings. A howl sounded through the clearing, and X turned to its direction before away and heading into the forest. Before entering the forest, he noticed that the howls were getting closer and closer to him, so he took this as a warning to stay on his guard, lest he wanted to become a pile of scrap. As X trekked along, the Reploid couldn't shake off this weird feeling he was getting. It was like he was being watched. And not by the cameras set around in the forest. It was more animalistic.

"_Get a hold of yourself, X!_" He thought to himself. "_You're being evaluated right now. What would Zero say if he saw me slacking off?_"

That's when the harsh cold feeling of reality had set in again. X was the last of the Reploids, a race so old yet so futuristic and had showed so much promise. And without his partner and best friend, he felt lost in this new world. Remnant had changed so much. But how had the world changed so quickly? Was it evolution? Or was it that Reploids were no longer needed by the world? X was hurled out of his thoughts as he saw a two streaks of black strafing across the trees from his peripheral vision. He prepared himself by transforming his right forearm into his only and most reliable weapon: the X-Buster. X clutched the cannon as he anticipated the ambushers' next moves.

Out of the bushes, three wolf-like creatures leapt out and slashed at X, only to miss their target as the Reploid dashed out of the way. As he stopped, he had gotten a better look of who his attackers were. These wolves stood on their hind legs and had black fur covering their entire bodies. Within the fur, the wolf-like creatures had bone like protrusions coming out of their hairy spines and arms. But the most memorable and strangest trait was that the cranium seemed to be made entirely out of bone while its blood-crimson eyes seemed to look straight into X's soul.

"What are these things? Are they wolves?" X eyed the creatures as he dropped his arm cannon, not wanting to battle. In that moment of hesitation, the largest of the Beowolves jumped at X, claws aimed as it swiped at him. In the nick of time, the Reploid dodged backwards and out of harm's way.

"Wait a minute. These must be the Creatures of Grimm that Professor Ozpin told me about," X realized. "In that case, I can't allow you to terrorize Humanity and Faunus anymore." The Maverick Hunter readied and aimed his X-Buster as the Beowolves growled, accepting the Reploid's battle declaration.

The first Beowolf charged at the blue robot, jaws wide open as it tried to sink its teeth into X, only to get a large blast of compressed solar energy into its jaws. The Beowolf was sent flying into one of the trees then collapsed onto the ground, mouth now emitting smoke, courtesy of X, before its lifeless body erupted into smoke and evaporated into the atmosphere. The remaining Beowolves gave the scene a look of disbelief and caution. Not wanting to end up like their brother, the Grimm gave out a loud roar that could be heard across the forest. Without wasting a second, five more Beowolves came out into the fray, seven in total. X noticed that one of the Beowolves was much larger than the others and had more bonelike protrusions. The rest of the Beowolves seemed to be following its lead, so it was safe for him to assume that this one was the leader of the pack or the Alpha Beowolf.

The pack of monsters began to surround X as he assessed the situation he was unfortunately given. The two Beowolves from the beginning both gave a thunderous bellow before charging at him. X lifted up his arm cannon as blue electricity began building up, dancing across the X-Buster like a ballerina in a dance studio. As the two closed in, X gave his own battle cry as he unloaded on the monsters.

"HYYAHHH!" A gigantic discharge of blue energy was fired at the Beowolves, enveloping them and creating a massive detonation on the ground. After the smoke subsided, all that there was left of the monsters were ash.

Back at Beacon Amphitheater, all of the students and professors, save for Professor Ozpin, couldn't believe what they had just witnessed. They had never seen a spectacle quite like this before. First, the existence of Reploids being verified for the first time in the history of all of Remnant. Now, they had just witnessed only a fraction of what the Reploids, no, what **X** was capable of. The most awestruck in the amphitheater were Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"So, I take back everything bad I said about X's descent. That was… amazing…" Jaune said. Pyrrha could only look at him in amusement, "It always proves to never judge a book by its cover, Jaune." The blonde swordsman smiled sheepishly at her comment as he scratched the back of his head.

"Ren, did you see that?! Did you see that?!" Nora asked her best friend as she was jumping around the place. Ren, not able to respond due to the blue Reploid, just nodded his head. Ruby imitated her in voicing her excitement to her friends.

"Omigosh! Omigosh! Yang, did you see that!? X was all like 'Howaaah' and 'Hyeaahhh'! And his arm turned into an awesome cannon! And he was able to turn the Grimm into ash with that huge energy shot made out of plasma!" The scythe wielder exclaimed, enacting various martial art poses with each sentence.

"Ruby, we all saw what happened. Maybe you should calm down," Yang chimed, trying to stop her sister from passing out, but to no avail. Ruby couldn't contain her excitement over the Maverick Hunter. While the young leader kept bouncing, Blake had taken the time to look up from her book and actually participate in watching the demonstration. She was awestruck but to a lesser extent compared to Nora or Ruby. Weiss, however, was not fully convinced that X was truly a "Reploid" but the decimation of the Beowolves was a start.

"Settle down, you dunce! So far, this X character had only taken down two Grimm. But, he hesitated to attack them when they first appeared," Weiss stated.

"Weiss, he's a Reploid. Where he was from, the Creatures of Grimm didn't exist back then. It was after the Maverick Wars when they began to pop up over Remnant," Yang countered.

Weiss looked at her blonde teammate in vehemence. "And how can we be sure that he actually is a Reploid? For all we know, he could be a prototype for a version of the Atlesian Knight combat droids sent from Atlas!" The two began to eye each other ferociously in annoyance before Ruby gained their attention back.

"Weiss, Yang, you might want to look at this." Ruby interjected, referring to the monitor that showed X, surrounded by Beowolves.

Back in the Emerald Forest, the Alpha Beowolf howled in rage and vengeance as he witnessed his own kind, obliterated by the blue newcomer. The four remaining regular Beowolves echoed the Alpha's anger as they burst at X, wanting to taste the destruction of the Reploid. As they tried to close the gap between X, they ended up colliding with each other instead.

When the lycanthropes had recovered from the four-way head butt, they had turned around and looked all over the forest landscape. The Beowolves had lost sight of their blue target. Only when the pack heard a large humming with air and heat bursting down upon them, did they realize they forgot to look up. Above them, X had been hovering over the Grimm using his built-in thrusters, charging his X-Buster. Glowing with energy, he gave a mighty shout, releasing his payload at the Grimm. The shot was a small, but full-fledged laser stream of pure energy. It wasn't as strong as the charge shot X shot earlier but it sure did the job as it tore right through the Beowolves, incinerating them into a black powder. The shot had launched the Maverick Hunter into the air some more before back flipping and landing on the ground.

X, proud of his work, proceeded to dust off the remnants of Beowolf on his armor. However, the Alpha Beowolf sprinted behind X, wanting to end the Reploid and ending his life but his plans were cut short… literally. Before it even had the chance to swing its claws, X had produced a sword handle that erupted with a green beam blade into his hands. He slashed at the Alpha Beowolf vertically, bisecting the monster perfectly. The newly split Alpha Beowolf flew right pass X and landed on the ground beside him. Smoke began to emit from the cleaved cadaver. X began to look upon the Z-Saber with nostalgia.

"Thanks Zero. You saved me again." The blue Reploid pocketed the beam saber into his inner armor compartments and began to march towards his objective.

Back at the Amphitheater, the students began to build and discuss their own theories on how X had gained his combat skills, still zealous and fanatic enough to challenge him when he got back. Ruby and the others, however, were still trying to process what had happened.

"Okay, so it seems to be in possession of a sword that is able to produce a blade made of pure energy, possibly plasma." Blake stated, "It seems that in X's past, everything was more advanced than modern archaeologists had originally thought."

"Hey, was it just me or did X look a bit tense after using his light saber?" Jaune spoke up.

"First of all, we aren't calling it that. Secondly, it seemed that even though he was quick on the draw, X's slash at the Grimm was sluggish at best. He just had the element of surprise," Ren put his two cents in.

Pyrrha was looking at the ground pensively. "Perhaps the reason why X was slow is because it's not his sword." Everybody looked at the red-haired Amazonian-like student with further explanation. "It's only a guess but maybe this sword he possesses reminds him of his former life in the past. And since X is the last of his kind, it holds sentimental value to him."

"I never really thought of it like that. To me, it just looked like a cool sword." Ruby stated. Weiss could only scoff at her red-hooded leader.

"Of course, only you would think of weapons, 24/7. It still amazes me how you even get work done if all you do is drool over the newest weapons and prototypes all day."

"Says the Ice Queen…"

"What was that, you child?"

"Ice Queen!"

"Dunce!"

Yang had gotten up and pried the two away from scratching each other's faces off. "Now guys. I think it's time for you two to have a timeout." She said with a playful, yet motherly tone.

"In your dreams!" Ruby and Weiss retorted in unison before looking at each other. The duo then proceeded to giggle before it turned onto full-on laughter while the others could look on in amusement.

Shortly after decimating his Grimm attackers, X continued to explore the surrounding of the Emerald Forest, hoping to avoid any encounters with the soulless monsters to conserve his energy reserves until he recovered. But as fate would bring, his prayers were unanswered. Now, the Maverick Hunter was being confronted by three Beowolves, two Ursi, and a King Taijitu. The bearlike creatures seemed to move slower than their werewolf comrades but what they lacked in speed, they sure made up in strength and ruthlessness as X found out when he was tackled into a tree by an Ursa. X planted his feet on the ground and grabbed the Ursa's shoulder and underarm, quickly lifted up the Grimm. He threw the Ursa towards the Beowolves. The two of the monsters quickly scrambled out of the way as the Ursa flew in the air. One Beowolf was simply not fast enough to evade the airborne Ursa and collided with it head-first, knocking the two out. X turned around and grabbed the remains of the tree that he was pinned to and uprooted it. With a mighty swing, he threw the large piece of lumber at the remaining Beowolves. The Beowolves had hardly any reaction time, only being thrown into a stupor like a deer in front of a car's headlights, before being crushed by the log. The remaining Ursa started charging towards X before leaping into the air, trying to tackle and compact the Reploid into the ground like his predecessor. However, the Ursa was cleaved in half like a watermelon as X slashed across its torso.

"Ok, that takes care of the bears and wolves. Now where's that snakAAAHHH!"

The white half of the King Taijitu had snuck up behind on X during his fray, wanting to destroy X once he was in a weakened state. Wrapping itself around the Maverick Hunter, it began to constrict X, causing strenuous amounts of damage to his body frame and forced him to drop the Z-Saber. The White King Taijitu could only flick its forked tongue at its prey, expressing its win as the black half of the King Taijitu slithered up towards them. Seeing no other way out, X began to charge up both of his X-Busters as the Black King Taijitu reached toward its other half and X himself. Opening its jaws and revealing the assortment of fangs that decorated its mouth, the Black King Taijitu began to strike at X. However, at the last second possible, the tides had changed. X shot both arm cannons at the ground, creating a massive explosion at the White King Taijitu, propelling both halves of the Snake Grimm into the air along with X. His blue chassis starting to crack, X activated his boot thrusters and forced himself into the ground. Not wanting to make a crater into the ground, he tucked himself into a ball before landing. The Blue Reploid rolled onto the ground before getting into a running stance and picked up the Z-Saber off the ground. Now, wielding the energy sword, X positioned himself under the gigantic shadow that was being produced by the flailing King Taijitu in the sky. X looked onto the falling Grimm, judging its position and time when it was going to land. As the giant snake monster brushed past the tree line, X swung the Z-Saber at the King Taijitu, able to make a clean and concise cut as the two halves of the Grimm were separated and landed opposite of each other and their formidable blue enemy. X brought out both X-Busters and began to charge them up as he aimed at both heads of the former conjoined monster. Their tail-ends now dripping black blood, both Grimm began to squirm back onto their bellies and lunged at the Maverick Hunter. Now fully charged, X shot both X-Busters, discharging two fully-fledged charged solar bullets at both Grimm. The charge shots hit their target dead on, destroying the heads of both creatures and leaving the bodies of the Grimm squirming around before halting altogether and began to emit smoke from the cadavers before disappearing altogether.

Panting from exhaustion and energy depletion, X changed his weapons back into his arms as he fell back on the ground. He stayed in that positon, trying to regain some lost power in that fight by feeding off the sun's rays and storing it into his internal energy generation device. After a while, X replenished most of his energy back and began to walk towards his objective. Noticing a gray tower in the distance, the Reploid used his broad-range eye camera to focus on the structure. He judged that the distance from him and said structure was around less than a half mile away from his position. This gave X plenty of time to actually think about getting rid of all the conflict that plagued Remnant as he walked.

"_The Grimm won't be an easy task to solve. The only resolution I see is to destroy them all. It don't know if it's the best course of action… but they've been wreaking havoc across the world. I can't let an incident like Eurasia or Sigma threaten Remnant again. I can't let that happen. No, I won't let that happen!_"

While X was deep in thought, he hadn't noticed the cliff that he was on, the temple-like structures below that he spotted, or the seemingly endless abyss that he was about to fall into. That had certainly snapped X out of his daydreaming and thoughts. As X stretched his arms out and let his internal gyroscope balance him out, he noticed that there was some damage done to these structures. When he regained control, he used his hovering thrusters and floated to the Cliffside, where he began to slide and descend upon. X then spotted a Cliffside building that was nearby below and leapt towards it, using his Acceleration System to give him a large boost to land on the roof faster. When he arrived on the roof, X began to analyze the remains of these ruins. He noticed that there were blast marks all across the area.

"_Had there recently been a battle here?" _X thought as he grabbed a piece of rubble from the building, examining the burn marks._ "Well, whatever the case, it definitely took its toll._" He tossed the debris aside and jumped down and began to walk on the singular bridge ahead of him, leading the Reploid to a platform covered with broken pillars. This was where the beginning of the end would start.

"Well, it seems that X has found the remains of one of the ancient temples that Teams RWBY and JNPR had demolished in their battle with the Giant Nevermore and Death Stalker," Professor Goodwitch stated, watching the camera feeds off her Scroll. "The Initiation has gone rather well, wouldn't you agree?"

Professor Ozpin looked on the monitor pensively, "Indeed, Glynda. Not surprisingly, he is also very adept in dealing with the situations that he has encountered within the past hour. Perhaps it is time that we give him a situation that hits closer to home."

"You don't mean the-"

"Yes, I do. In fact, I've already taken the liberty of calling the Schnee Dust Company beforehand. President Schnee was quite adamant about the request, saying something along the lines of wasting defense resources, but after telling him what it was for, he became quite cooperative. Right now, the airdrop should be flying over the site now."

"Well, Ozpin. You'd best hope that it doesn't destroy X," the business-like professor said.

"Now, now, Glynda. I've made more mistakes than any man, woman or child has made on this planet," The Headmaster spoke, glasses gleaming in the light. "But I believe that this isn't one of them."

The rubble and debris started shaking on the ground as if there was an earthquake happening when X reached to the ancient platform. X could barely maintain his balance, relying on his internal gyroscope so that he wouldn't collapse. That's when he noticed that the air currents were going out of whack, creating gusts of wind powerful enough to send X off of his feet.

"Ugh. What could be causing all of this wind?" The Maverick Hunter inquired, struggling against the wind. X tapped into his ultra-sensitive voice recognition system in his head, checking any sounds that seemed out of place. As soon as he activated it, a large humming instantaneously burst into his 'ears' so to speak. Looking up, X noticed a large hovercraft flying above him, descending towards the platform. The aircraft's wings had giant jet engines attached on it that seemed to rotate as it began its descent. The most noticeable feature about the aircraft was a giant snowflake was engraved on its side with the initials: SDC, below the emblem.

"X," The Maverick Hunter turned around, trying to locate the voice that called his name.

"X, this is Professor Ozpin. I'm communicating with you through the Bullhead's speakers," said Ozpin, speaking into the microphone back at Beacon Amphitheater.

"Yes, Professor? What is it that you needed to tell me? Am I close to the Abandoned Temple?" X inquired.

"Yes, quite so. You've had quite an Initiation so far but take this next challenge as a 'final test' so to speak," said Ozpin.

"Final test?"

"Yes. If you are able to defeat this foe, this Bullhead VTOL aircraft will take you to the Abandoned Temple then back to Beacon Academy."

The Bullhead rotated itself and placed the rear of the vehicle towards X. The hatch began to open as it revealed a massive, black robot that began to climb down the ramp and leapt off the aircraft. The ancient platform quaked as the giant droid landed, creating several more cracks along the center. The machine had four spider-like legs positioned around the base of the body. The torso itself resembled to be humanoid and contain a large hole in the middle of its chest. It had two arms equipped with a large energy cannon each. It also possessed two larger energy cannons on its shoulder as well. The robot was decorated with dark gray paint with red accents that ran all over its body. This thing was easily twice the size of X, if not than more. X could only gaze at this mechanized, weaponized monstrosity in confusion.

"A giant Mechaniloid?! That's my opponent?" X asked.

"Yes," answered Professor Ozpin. "This creation from the Kingdom of Atlas where most of the technological advancements in Remnant occur. I present to you the Atlesian Black Widow, serial number: BLK-WDW. We had to say the serial number for promotional services so don't mind that. This is a combat droid whose main purpose is to protect its objective and obliterate enemy combatants. Although we recently programmed this particular model for the sole purpose of combat. We thought that by giving you a familiar opponent, it would help you get into the groove of things, as it were. Are you able to handle defeating this 'mechaniloid'?"

X only nodded, "Roger, I'm beginning the mission!" The Maverick Hunter exclaimed as he aimed his cannon at Atlesian BLK-WDW. The colossal mechaniloid responded by lifting its arm turrets towards X.

"INITIALIZNG COMBAT PROCEDURES. MAIN CANNONS READY. ENGAGING TARGET WHEN COMMAND IS GIVEN," The Atlesian Black Widow spoke in a cold, synthetic voice.

"All right, then. Maverick Hunter X! Begin the final test!" Ozpin ordered through the speakers as the Bullhead flew away.

And that's when all hell broke loose.

Cue Battle Theme: VS 8Boss – Mega Man X8

X began firing solar bullets in rapid succession at the Atlesian BLK-WDW's torso, seemingly causing no damage as it shrugged off the blasts. The BLK-WDW returned the favor and started firing Dust salvos from its arm cannons. The Maverick Hunter kept jumping side to side, avoiding the salvos before taking cover behind a pillar. He began to wall-kick all the way to the top of the pillar and began firing at the BLK-WDW. One of the shots managed to hit the mechaniloid square in the head. In retaliation, the BLK-WDW charged towards the pillar and used its front legs to knock it down. Forced to use his thrusters, X began hovering over the mechaniloid before landing on its head. From there, X pulled out the Z-Saber and began stabbing into its arms. But to no avail, even with the countless attacks, the mechaniloid refused to back down. It began to rotate its torso extremely quick, swinging X off. X landed on and then went on his knee, having not fully recovered from his earlier battles today.

"_Just what exactly is this thing made off? It just shrugged off my shots as if they were nothing! Even the Z-Saber couldn't slow it down. No matter, I just have to fight faster and harder!_" 

X got back on his feet and began to charge his X-Buster up. The Atlesian BLK-WDW proceeded to fire its shoulder cannons, wanting to disrupt X in furthering his next plan. The Maverick Hunter kept charging up his X-Buster, with the excess energy going into the second buster, while simultaneously dodging the salvos and dashing towards the mechaniloid. The Atlesian BLK-WDW continued to show no mercy towards the recently awakened Reploid as it started firing all of its cannons at X. X, not wasting any moment, jumped onto the legs of the spider-like droid and proceeded to leap onto its right arm cannon. X pointed both arm cannons at the Atlesian BLK WDW's body and fired two gigantic, sky blue, charge shots. The two shots began to merged as it traveled to their targets and when it hit, another explosion occurred and X was blown back onto the platform. When the smoke cleared, there had been a giant gaping hole in its torso that reached all the way down to the base where the four mechanical legs were conjoined at, revealing the massive circuitry and wiring that had ran through the machine. The damage finally taking its toll on the Atlesian Black Widow. The red accents began to fade into the black as the mechaniloid spoke its final words.

"ANALYSIS COMPLETE. REPLOID IDENTIFIED. OBJECTIVE FULFILLED. MAIN BATTLE ROUTINES GOING OFFLINE. SYSTEM ERROR. SYSTEM ERROR. SYSTEM ERRORrrr..." The Atlesian BLK WDW's harsh, artificial voice died down and the combat mechaniloid had finally shut down. It was finally over. X had passed the Initiation into Beacon Academy. But one thought had echoed through his mind.

"_Did the mechaniloid just identify me as a Reploid?_"

Weiss couldn't believe her eyes, ears, practically all of her senses! All that had echoed through her mind was the Atlesian BLK-WDW's last testimony.

"_Analysis complete. Reploid identified. Analysis complete. Reploid identified. Analysis complete. Reploid identified._"

All doubts about X had vanished when she heard one of her family's and Atlas's technology acknowledge him as a Reploid. Mega Man X was indeed the last of the Reploids. While Weiss was still taking in this information, Ruby had decided to take up the responsibility of rubbing it in her face.

"HA! I told you so, Weiss!" She yelled in glee. "X is a Reploid and you said that I was being stupid and childish. Well, who's stupid now?!" Ruby then began to cheerfully sing while Weiss sank into a glumly depression, not accepting that she was wrong.

However, not everybody could echo Ruby's sentiment. Blake was in shock. She was in shock because X had been able to single-handedly defeat an Atlesian BLK-WDW without any help. Atlesian BLK-WDWs were notorious for their destructive and ruthless manners of dealing with their enemies. Even Blake couldn't handle the combat monstrosity and the only reason she survived that battle was because Adam was there to finish it off. She would have to congratulate him when he would get back to Beacon.

As the various students began cheering for X's victory, Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch began to discuss on what happened

"Professor Ozpin, are you sure that that the BLK-WDW that the Schnee Dust Company sent was the correct one?" Professor Goodwitch inquired.

"I'm positive. This just proves to show that X truly is one of the strongest Reploids left, well he's the only one left but I digress," The gray-haired professor responded, taking a sip out of his mug.

Professor Goodwitch began to go through the data on her Scroll, "Very well, then. I'll contact the mechanical waste staff and ask them to haul off the BLK-WDW... What? This can't be possible."

"What is it, Glynda?"

"I'm going through the BLK-WDW's status, checking which systems sustained the most damage to send the statistics to the Schnee Dust Company. The diagnostics are stating that the machine is still functioning."

Professor Ozpin widened his eyes at this revelation before pulling out his on Scroll and began to speak into it, "Hello, Johnson? I need you to fly back to X as soon as you can."

"You got it, boss."

The headmaster could only close his eyes, "_X, I hope you're prepared for what's going to happen next._"

X was now spending his time inspecting the disabled Atlesian BLK-WDW, waiting for the Bullhead to pick him up. X was fascinated by the mechaniloid as he began to pry open the metal plating near the arm cannon. When he got it off, X found out that instead of a solar energy generator that powered the arm cannon, it was an assortment of canisters filled with different kinds of powder. These colored canisters were all hooked up to wires which supplied the weapon with ammunition and possibly served as a primary power source. X grabbed one of the canisters and pulled it out of the machine.

"Just what is this stuff?" X asked to himself, further scrutinizing the possible power source.

While X was occupied, the lines running across the Atlesian BLK-WDW began to brighten up. As the red accents began to brighten, the head of the mechanical powerhouse began to lift up. It stayed in that position as it ran a diagnostic check through its body as a faint hum could be heard. Fortunately for X, he heard the faint hum before dodge-rolling into safety as the damaged mechaniloid slammed its front legs down in an attempt to immobilize the Maverick Hunter, before falling down again.

"MAIN MOTOR FUNCTIONS NOW OPERATING AT 75 PERCENT. DIVERTING POWER AWAY FROM NON-ESSENTIAL SYSTEMS. PREVIOUS OBJECTIVE DEEMED VOID. NEW OBJECTIVE ACQUIRED: ELIMINATE THE REPLOID."

X raised his X-Buster at the now-malfunctioning combat droid, "How is this possible? Those charge shots hit it directly, knocking the mechaniloid down! It gave up! What changed now? Unless…!" X widened his eyes at the only explanation possible for the Atlesian BLK-WDW acting out of control.

It had gone Maverick.

Cue Battle Theme: Angry Boss – Mega Man X8

The Atlesian BLK-WDW's legs began to lift the Maverick back into an upright position. "ALL DUST-POWERED CANNONS OPERATIONAL. ARM CANNON AMMUNITION MISSING. MAIN BATTLE ROUTINES NOW ONLINE." The Maverick began firing all of its cannons in a machine gun-like fashion, giving no time for X to evade all of the salvos as he got damaged in his torso and legs. In retaliation, X began firing both X-Busters, hoping to slow the BLK-WDW's attack as he shot solar bullets at its head. As the solar bullets hit, X pulled out the Z-Saber and sprinted towards the Maverick. When he got close enough, X jumped onto the legs and began stabbing and slicing the wires and metal frame, turning it into molten scrap. With one final slash, X had sliced one of the front legs off of the mechaniloid. The combat robot's shoulder cannon aimed down at X before unleashing another bombardment of Dust ammunition, pushing away and knocking X down before he could get another slice in at the other front leg. When X had recovered and gotten up, somehow able to stand on its own, the Atlesian BLK-WDW started moving its cannons in front of the hole in its torso before they all began to combine to form one gigantic cannon, the machine taking the form of an artillery cannon. The cannon began discharging energy out of the side ports around the barrel as a much larger energy ball began to form in front of the mechaniloid. X began building up energy in his X-Buster, hoping that his charged shot would take out the cannon before it had fired. X and the Atlesian BLK-WDW both fired at the same time, X releasing a giant discharge of blue energy while the Maverick shot a pure-white laser. The two blasts had connected and tried to envelop one another, wanting to get to its target. But the Atlesian BLK-WDW's laser prevailed and burst through X's charge shot. X put his arms up in a cross guard before the Dust laser hit the Maverick Hunter dead on. The impact was so colossal that it broke parts of the platform and sent them falling down in the abyss below, along with X.

As X kept descending, unable to move his arms or legs. He closed his eyes and thought to himself, "_So, this is how it ends, huh? Taken down by a Maverick in the future. I can't say that this is a pleasant way to go but it looks like this is the way I have to go._"

"_Come on, X. Pick up the pace. This is no time for a Hunter to slack off." _

X quickly opened his eyes when he heard that voice echo in his mind. "_…Zero…?"_

Cue Battle Theme: Opening Stage - Central Highway – Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X

The red energy crystal in X's helmet began to shine a brilliant shade of gold as X's systems went into overdrive, regaining control of his formerly paralyzed limbs. The reinvigorated Maverick Hunter used his thrusters to air-dash to a nearby piece of rubble, prompting jumping off of it onto another piece of falling debris right after. X kept boosting himself all the way back up to the fragmented platform and back into the fray. The Atlesian BLK-WDW could only raise its cannons at X, signaling that it was time that the battle needed to end. With a new sense of clarity in his unwavering, emerald green eyes, X's hands began to glow an iridescent shade of white before changing them into X-Busters. His armor, although now covered with more cracks, didn't waver to the damage caused by the mechaniloid. This was X's limitless potential.

"My name is X. I am a Maverick Hunter. And I will not let Mavericks like you, or the Creatures of Grimm destroy the peace that Humanity and Faunus have been striving for!"

X began to fire yellow bursts of charge shots with haste, unaffected by fatigue or injury. With each hit, the Atlesian BLK-WDW began to falter as the plasma shots took their toll, striking the three remaining legs. X ended his assault and began to charge at the mechaniloid as it began to form its giant turret and started firing at X but to no avail. X kept dashing through the salvos and the debris that was erupting around him. With a final boost, he leapt onto the front leg of the Atlesian BLK-WDW as it turned back into its regular mode. He began punching and ripping off the circuitry and other various components of the front leg, effectively rendering it useless. X began to pull back on the knee and anchored himself onto the machine's thigh before tearing off the leg. The Atlesian BLK-WDW began to topple forward into the ground, having to use its arm cannons to support it. X used this as an opportunity and jumped onto the mechaniloid's head, grappling it. X began punching the head repeatedly, making a dent with each punch. With one final swing to the cranium, X had forced his way into the electronic brain of the mechaniloid, analyzing all of the circuitry, the motherboard, and other various wires that gave the machine life. He raised his arm cannon, stuck it into the new metal cavity, began charging it until blue electricity started to form around the barrel of the buster once more. With a loud shout, X fired into the electronic brain, destroying its entire central nervous system and the upper part of the torso as well. X let go of the Maverick and jumped off. The red accents began to glow even brighter as various rays of light began to erupt out of the mechaniloid. Small but numerous detonations exploded on the broken Maverick's body before they began to envelop into one giant flare before exploding. X shielded his eyes as the light kept flashing bright before dying down. X saw to see that there was nothing left of the Atlesian BLK-WDW. X's energy crystal and hands' glow began to die down. This time for real, X was finished with Initiation. The Bullhead from earlier came into X's view from around the Cliffside as it began to fly down towards X. The airship landed right beside X as the main hatch dropped down. The Maverick Hunter proceeded to walk into the Bullhead, seeing the pilot coming out to greet him.

"You're that Reploid that everyone's been talking about right?" His voice was gruff yet curious as he eyed X in curiosity.

"Yes, that would be me." The blue Reploid smiled.

"Well, it looks like you've been through hell and back. The name's Johnson. Everybody back at the school was worried crazy for you."

"They…were...?" X said, taken back.

"Of course they were. It's not every day you see a part of history thought to be a myth," Johnson responded.

X began to smile, happy knowing that even though he was in a new environment, he had people worrying about him. People that cared about him. He wouldn't forget this sentiment. That he knew.

"Okay then," X nodded. "Let's go to the Abandoned Temple."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Johnson responded, going back to the cockpit. He closed the hatch and proceeded to lift off into the sky and flew X to the Abandoned Temple. Five minutes later, the Bullhead had landed at their destination as X walked out to find the artifact. The Abandoned Temple consisted of the broken ruins of a rotunda. Three of the columns were broken and lying around the area in pieces. There were five stone columns still standing that held up a circle of stones. On the outer edge of the rotunda were small, pillar-like pedestals that made a ring surrounding the floor. The only thing that X found on one of the pedestals was a chess piece resting on top of it. X picked up the small object and saw that it was a White Pawn chess piece.

"Mission completed." X turned to the Bullhead, "I got what was here! Let's head back to Beacon!" The Reploid yelled as he walked back into the airship.

An hour later back at the Beacon Amphitheater, Professor Ozpin was standing in the middle of the stage. The multitude of students and professors began to cheer from the stands as they saw X walking his way up to the stage. When he arrived at the center of the stage alongside the Headmaster, X gave Ozpin the White Pawn relic from the Abandoned Temple. Professor Ozpin only smiled at X. The monitor above them turned on and showed X's mug shot and his name. Professor Ozpin began to tap into the microphone next to him to gain the students' and faculties' attention.

"Mega Man X. In the Initiation, you were able to defeat a numerous amount of the Creatures of Grimm, navigate your way to the ruins of the Abandoned Temple, and you defeated an Atlesian Black Widow. A machine created for the sole purpose of combat. You defeated it not only once, but twice when it went berserk. Excellent work by the way. And you retrieved the White Pawn piece. Normally, I would assign teams made up of four people but you're an exception. From this day forth, X, you will be the first student in the history of Beacon Academy to work solo. You will go on missions by yourself but will also assist your fellow Huntsman and Huntresses when needed."

X began to smile once again. "Thank you, Professor. You can count on me from now on."

The Headmaster returned the gesture, "I already have. Maverick Hunter X, welcome to Beacon Academy!"

The crowd began to erupt in applaud and excitement as they welcomed their new classmate once again. The title 'Maverick Hunter' appeared on screen, next to X's name on the monitor. Professor Ozpin only gazed into the crowd then towards X, noticing his happy expression of him being accepted.

"_Well, this has turned out to be an interesting year._"

**Thanks again to Shadow, I feel he did a really good job with this. Now I know what I have \ to beat with the next chapter! **


	5. Chapter 3: Hatred Reborn

**Hey guys, ShadowBurner here. Sorry this took so long to get out, I wanted to make sure I did my best with it. Two major players are going to take the stage in this chapter, so get ready for them.**

**To Mojo Kor Ledenoa: Read the chapter to find out! Nice profile pic, btw. That's Shulk with the Monado III, right? Just got Xenoblade a few days ago!**

**To Trigunner: There will be Armors entering the stage at some point, yes. …And how did I forget about the Nova Strike? I've only beaten Project X-Zone five times. You'd think I would've remembered it.**

**To ShadowWarriorOmega: That idea of yours was real helpful in writing this one, dude.**

**NOTICE: This is merely a suggestion for future reference, but if you are going to leave criticisms, please:**

**Make sure they are constructive.**

**Check back at least one page in reviews to see if someone else has already said what you were thinking of.**

**Alright, I've wasted enough of your time. Let's get this started!**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Mega Man X series, and I do not own RWBY. The Mega Man franchise is the property of Capcom, and RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.**

Darkness. All he could see, no matter where he looked, was an endless, inky void.

**Where am I?** He thought to himself.

**I thought I was dead. What happened? How did I get here?**

"_Ze…. you.. me?" _A voice echoed throughout the blackness. He had no idea who it belonged to, but it sounded familiar, despite its distorted tone.

**Who's there? Show yourself!** He called out to the darkness. For a moment, there was nothing. Then there was a flash of light, and a violet radiance drove away the shadows and took their place in the void. At the center of the light was a figure of a man. **Who is that?**

"_..ro, li.t.n to me. I man..ed to your ..dy, but it .se. up m..h .f my e..r.y. I do n.t ..ve t..e left."_

**What? Who are you?**

"I am Do..or .lb..t …y. I .m …r creat.r. I ..ve of my r. .y T..mas. You ..ve acc..p. in y..r , but you yet to .ete y.u. or.g..al p…ose. Despite….. is.. I am….. … of you… pl..se, for…e me f.r to.. y.u all tho.. ago…."

The violet light began to dull, and the figure flickered like static on a broken monitor. "_I am out of time. Your friend needs your help. Go…. My….son…."_

The light had faded completely, leaving him alone in the darkness once again. And then he woke up.

He found himself in a capsule, deep within what he assumed was a cave, broken and rusted electronics crunching underneath his feet as he stepped onto the floor, his optical processors readjusting to the pinprick of light far away from him.

"Who was that," he said to himself, "And what did he mean by 'Your friend needs you'?" He looked over to his right, where he saw the torn and ragged remains of what appeared to be a lab coat resting on an unknown machine. He picked it up and wrapped it around himself as if it were a cloak, and made his way towards the light at the entrance to the cave.

When he left the cave, his thermal sensors registered a drop in temperature of around ten degrees Celsius. This combined with how the leaves of the trees nearby were of reds, yellows, and browns led him to believe it was currently the Fall season. It had been Spring when he had fallen asleep.

"If it's Fall now, then that means I've been asleep for at least several months. I should get back to base and check in with everyone." He activated his transport systems in an attempt to warp back to base. *ERROR. UNABLE TO LOCATE SIGNAL* "Damn. I can't get a read on anything out in this forest. If I make my way back to the city I might be able to find a signal.

The sound of a train whistle echoed throughout the forest, as the leaves gently rustled in the wind. He turned in the direction of the sound and began to walk towards its source.

_Where there's a train, there are tracks, _he thought to himself. _And if I follow those tracks, I should be able to make my way back to civilization._ A low growl snapped him out of his thoughts, and he whirled around to face two large, bear-like creatures. White, bone-like protrusions that resembled spikes jutted out from their arms and back. A mask that seemed to be formed of the same substance with red detailings sat upon their faces, red eyes boring a hole into him. Their pitch black fur was so dark that light seemed to be absorbed into it, and as they faced him, he was unsure of wether or not they meant to harm him; they appeared to hesitate, as if they were children deferring to a parent.

This peace was short lived, however, as one of the creatures suddenly charged forward with astonishing speed for its size. Unfortunately for the creature, he was used to fighting much faster foes, and spun to the side as it was about to land its blow. He continued to spin, using his momentum to slam his fist into the beast's back like a sledgehammer. The beast slammed into the ground, the force disorienting it. He took a few steps back and readied himself as it began to stand back up, and found that both creatures were growling. No doubt they were going to try and double team him.

Sure enough, they pounced, with one following a second after the first.

_These beasts are more intelligent then I presumed,_ he thought. _The second delayed its attack just enough to ensure it would connect if I attempted to avoid the first one again. Unfortunately for them, I'm not stupid enough to use the same move twice in a row. _He held out his arm. There was a low hum as his hand glowed with red light, and morphed into an arm cannon. He narrowed his eyes as he took aim, waiting until the beasts were nearly upon him, and fired a single blast of brilliant azure energy ringed with gold. The shot tore right through the creatures, removing the head of the first and blowing away the neck of the second. He stepped out of the way as their lifeless corpses crashed into the ground.

He brushed off the dust their impact had kicked up and turned towards where he had heard the sound of the train earlier, deciding to leave his arm cannon active incase he ran into any more of the black creatures.

After a while of walking, he came to a break in the trees, where he found the tracks he was searching for.

_Now the problem is figuring out which direction to take._

He stepped onto the steel rails, unsure of where to go. He knelt down and examined the rails, taking careful note of the direction they had been worn down by the movement of the trains that undoubtedly used these paths. The sound of an explosion burst through the silence of the forest, causing him to jerk his head up. He looked over to his right, where a large cloud of smoke rose up in the distance. Then he heard something. A sound he hadn't heard in a very long time, that caused an unease to settle in his heart. A laugh. A malevolent laugh that could only belong to one person.

_It can't be,_ he thought to himself._ There's no way he could still be alive. I have to get over there. Everyone in the area is in extreme danger!_ He started running as fast as he could towards the smoke, using his thrusters to boost his speed as much as possible. As the sound of more shots being fired echoed in the distance, all he could do was pray that he'd make it in time. A rustling in the forest caught his attention, and he slowed down. He jumped back as something long and white burst through the trees, barely missing him.

"Hiissssssssssss….."

Before him was what appeared to be a colossal snake, its body primarily the color of fresh snow, with some ebony patches scattered throughout its scales. He noticed that like the creatures he had encountered earlier, its eyes were blood red, and the same bony markings on its head, the difference being that these were gray and red instead of white and red. He raised his arm cannon and fired a burst of energy, only for the creature to swing out of the way. The snake lunged at him. As it neared, he jumped straight into the air, and landed on its back. It began to thrash about wildly, but he held fast, and fired several shots down its throat, blowing off some of its many teeth in the process.

"Hiiiiissss!"

The creature fell to the ground, smoke flowing from its mouth. Just as he turned away, he heard the hissing sound again.

"Hiissssssssssss….."

"Another one of those snakes?" he said as he turned to face the newcomer. This snake was the inverse of the white one, looking more like the bear creatures from before, with scales the color of the void, only with patches of white, and white bone on its head. He followed the length of its body with his eyes, noticing that about halfway down it took on more of a checkerboard pattern. Looking back over at the white one, he noticed the same happened on it as well.

"….They're two halves of the same snake." He concluded, just as the white half shook itself off and rose back up, hissing and baring its broken fangs. The black half did the same, minus the shattered teeth. "I don't have time for this." And at that the twin snakes lunged towards their prey.

**Earlier that day, at Beacon Academy**

The blue figure of X stood against the darkness of the room, framed by the lights overhead. The only other source of light was the holographic display on the wall to his right, which showed a picture on either side- one of X himself, and one of the person standing across from him- his opponent, Cardin Winchester. The dark orange haired student stood with his weapon, a mace, slung over his shoulder and a smirk on his face.

_He clearly expects me to be an easy win,_ X thought to himself. _He probably caught on to the fact that whatever happened with the BLK-WDW isn't something I can replicate at will…. And he does seem to have some skill with that mace. My best bet to win this is to try attacking from range. _X was roused from his thoughts by the voice of the fight's referee, and class instructor, Glynda Goodwitch.

"X? Do you have any questions? After all, this is your first time participating in a tournament style battle."

"Yes, actually," X responded, "How is a winner decided?" Professor Goodwitch straightened her glasses and pointed her riding crop towards the display.

"As you can see, there is a green bar underneath Mr. Winchester's portrait. This is the Aura Meter. A victor is decided once a combatant's Aura Meter turns red. If you need to check your remaining Aura, you can look at your scroll. You did receive one, right?"

X smiled and nodded. "Sort of. I copied the data for one into my hard drive."

"Well, as long as you have one. Are you ready?" X nodded and turned back towards Cardin, who brought his mace down as he readied into a combat position. X morphed his hand into his Buster with a flash of blue light and settled into his usual stance. He also linked his scroll data with the wall projection, and the same display appeared in his left eye's field of vision. "Then you may begin." Goodwitch said, officially starting the match.

X made the first move, bringing his Buster into firing position and firing a few standard bursts of solar power towards Cardin, who simply laughed when he saw the yellow orbs of light, clearly expecting no threat.

_Exactly what I was hoping for. If he doesn't see my attack as dangerous, he'll likely just stand still and take it. These should do enough damage for me to win. _But to X's surprise, the shots simply dissipated on contact with Cardin's armor. "What?" Checking the display from his scroll, X's suspicions were confirmed. Cardin had taken zero damage from his attack. _Either his armor is made of the same material as that mechaniloid from initiation, or…_

"Pathetic," Cardin sneered. "This ancient tin can is supposed to be a hero? What a joke." Cardin went on the offensive, swinging his mace at X's head as soon as he was within range. With the tight confines of the combat stage, X was forced to duck down to avoid the blow, which while not quite as strong as the ones from the BLK-WDW, still had quite a bit of force behind it. Cardin tried to bring his mace down on X's head again, but X was smarter than to stay against the wall. He dashed off to the side and began to charge up the buster in his right arm.

_It's gotta be his Aura that's protecting him,_ X thought as he dodged repeated strikes from Cardin, _I guess I won't have to worry about this shot tearing him apart after all!_ Azure electricity began to trace across X's weapon, indicating that the charge was nearly complete. _Alright! I should be able to turn this around now!_ X continued to dodge more strikes from Cardin as he backed towards the wall, this time intentionally. Cardin's attacks were faster than before, as if he wanted to finish the fight as soon as possible. Still, they had no hope of connecting, thanks to X's eye cameras letting him see in a much higher framerate than any human.

_His speed is nothing compared to Overdrive Ostrich,_ X thought as he silently looked for an opening in Cardin's defenses. He had to give him credit, Cardin was skilled with his weapon. _There!_ X had found his chance. He brought up his left arm to block Cardin's strike.

**CLANG! **The students gasped as the metallic sound echoed throughout the room. Cardin had actually landed a hit. Granted it had been blocked, but considering X's overwhelming speed advantage, it was still surprising. Jaune felt the impact more than the others, and the blonde cringed as he remembered what had happened when Cardin had gotten him in that same position.

Cardin smirked. "This is the part where you lose," he said, assured of his victory.

"Over my dead body," X retorted. Cardin snarled and attempted to knee X in the abdomen, just as he'd done to Jaune. X's auditory processors picked up a cracking sound- No doubt Cardin's knee.

"Guh…." Cardin's face seized up in pain, and his grip on his mace faltered. X took the opportunity to spin Cardin around, yanking the mace out of his hands and flinging him into the wall, before he loosed the charge shot he had been building. A burst of blue energy barreled towards Cardin, pushing him further into the wall. X checked the display and noticed Cardin's Aura had dropped into the red, and released his buster, morphing it back into his hand. He had won the match. The sound of Cardin's mace clanging on the floor echoed throughout the room as the lights gradually came back on and X was greeted with thunderous applause from the students. Despite what most would think, Cardin was one of the best fighters at Beacon, with only Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha having managed to defeat him this easily before.

"Well done, X," Professor Goodwitch said. "You have claimed victory in your first tournament style match. Now then class, can anyone tell me what the deciding factor in this match was?"

"His use of a ranged weapon," Weiss called out.

"His metal body," Yang suggested.

"His strategy?" Ruby asked.

The professor nodded, pleased with her students' answers. "All correct, but what Miss Rose mentioned was perhaps the most influential factor. When X saw that his first attacks had no effect, he immediately altered his strategy, whereas Cardin simply used the same tactics he tried against Jaune. Remember class, you will often have to adapt your strategy to match your opponent." The sound of the bell rang out to indicate that the class was over, and the students flooded out of the room like lemmings.

"We're getting closer to the Vytal Festival, everyone! Remember to practice!"

Cardin limped over to where his mace lay on the floor and picked it up, clutching his side and glaring at X as the Reploid walked out of the room.

As he walked down the hall, X couldn't help but notice that many of the students turned their heads to watch him as he passed by. _I wonder what they think of me… _he thought to himself, before the feeling of an arm being wrapped around his shoulder registered in his mind. He looked over to his right to see Yang smiling at him.

"Sooooo, X, have you decided whether you're competing in the Vytal Tournament yet?" the blonde asked with a grin.

X couldn't help but smile back. He hadn't spent much time at Beacon, but Yang seemed to have taken it upon herself to get to know him. Her sister Ruby was pretty friendly too, but their teammates Weiss and Blake seemed distant, almost cold. Still, Yang and Ruby's attitudes were a breath of fresh air compared to that of many humans from back before he was sealed.

"Well, I'm not really sure," he said. "I'll bet I could participate in a lot of good fights, but I haven't really gotten back to a level I feel comfortable at yet."

"Well, if you ever need a sparring partner be sure to let me know, okay?"

"I will. Thanks, Yang!" The brawler flashed X another smile as she walked over to where the members of team JNPR were standing and started to ask them the same question.

After a few minutes of walking, X came to the academy gardens. In the time he had spent in this new world he had awoken to, he'd come to appreciate the natural beauty of the surrounding area, something he'd never paid much attention to in his original time. The main path of the gardens was a circular one. On his left were arches of the school's structure, trees, and emerald green grass. On his right was a pond with lilypads scattered about the clear blue waters, under which various species of fish swam. As he was knelt down in front of the pond observing the Koi, he heard a voice behind him.

"Heeey, X. Can I ask you a favor?" X looked over his shoulder to see Weiss standing near one of the trees, with her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

_She seems worried about something…_ X thought. "Sure Weiss. What is it?"

The white haired huntress took a deep breath and sighed. "As I'm sure you know, I am the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, my family's business. Well, recently, we've been having some trouble with a group called the White Fang."

"The White Fang?" X asked. "I've never heard of them before. Are they a Maverick organization?"

"Not exactly. They're a Faunus rights activist group. Or at least, they were. They've recently started using methods that are… less than peaceful to achieve their goals. One of them happens to be robbing the trains that carry the Dust my family's company provides. And it just so happens that one of those trains is going to be making a stop in Vale soon to drop off a delivery. I was wondering if you could guard it on its way out?"

"Sure. If the White Fang is as dangerous as they sound, then guarding something as valuable as Dust from them is an important job. I won't let you down."

Weiss let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, X. I've already cleared this with Professor Ozpin, so you won't need to worry about telling him. I've also let the conductor know to wait for you. The train won't leave without you on it." She turned to leave, but stopped. "Be careful," she said, looking back at X. "My family has a history of conflict with the White Fang, and Dust theft isn't all. Disappearances, murders- they're serious."

X frowned. "I will. Don't worry, Weiss." As X walked off, he began to think about what Weiss had told him of the White Fang. _The White Fang…. An activist group gone bad. They seem similar to the Repliforce. Heh, I wonder what Zero would think of this, what the world has become. I bet Ruby would remind him of Iris, in a way. But if they've only recently started using violent methods, how does Weiss' family have a history of conflict with them?_

"Something seems off about this." X shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I made a promise to Weiss."

After several minutes of walking, X found himself at the train station. There were four sets of railways- three for what he assumed were commercial trains, as one was stopped at the station and a man in a blue suit was checking the tickets of various humans and faunus attempting to board the train. The last set of tracks was further away from the station than the others, and was presumably for the Schnee Dust Company's supply trains.

Contrary to the commercial trains which had a more sleek and rounded design that reminded X of the Bullet Trains from his time, the Dust cargo train had a rectangular and bulky appearance, suggesting it was armored in some way. Said armor was also black in color, as opposed to the white of the public trains. Standing next to the armored trains was a man dressed in a dark suit and a matching conductor's hat. This man was, obviously, the conductor, and he straightened his posture as he saw X approaching.

"Are you the man Madam Weiss told me to wait for?" he questioned.

X nodded. "That's right. She asked me to help guard the train incase the White Fang attacks it."

The conductor snorted. "Well, she said you'd be wearin' blue armor, I just didn't think you'd be wearin' so much. Personally, I think the AK-130s can handle the job, but I won't turn away extra help."

"Ak-130s?" X asked. "What are those?" The conductor looked at X like he was crazy.

"You don't know what an AK is? Have you been living under a rock? The Atlesian Knight-130s are the most advanced robots ever designed, second only to the mythical Reploids. And, well, the new AK-200 model, but those aren't out yet. They've been Remnant's standard security robot for years! In fact, one of these here cars is full of them!"

X's expression changed to one of interest. _Second only to the Reploids, huh._ "Do you mind if I take a look at them?" The conductor sighed in exasperation.

"Sure. Make it quick though, we have to leave soon. They're in the third car."

Looking over at the train cars, X could see there were five of them. The blue Reploid walked over to the third car and pushed up the metal door that kept it closed. There was some grating, but the door opened cleanly, and X stepped inside, unaware of the trip lasers across the floor. Just like he had been told, the car was filled with AK-130s. They were humanoid in shape, like X, and dark gray in color. The faces and chestplates of the robots had patterns made of black glass that presumably would light up when they were active.

Sure enough, as X's foot passed through on of the lasers, the lights on the AKs began to light up with the color red. Several of them stepped out to confront X, and their visors dropped down. In the same computerized voice as the Black Widow he fought during initiation, one of them said

"INTRUDER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF." X responded by dropping into a combat stance and readying his Buster.

_Why are they acting hostile towards me?_ he thought. _I don't want to destroy them if I don't have to, but if they attack…._

The AK directly in front of X brought up its right arm, and its hand morphed into a blade. The blade was hooked like a harpoon, and it had a glowing red line near the blunt side. The AK repeated its command. "INTRUDER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF."

"…..I am Mega Man X." At this, the AK dropped its arm and retracted its blade. What it said next would both shock and confuse X.

"ALPHA UNIT LOCATED. REPEAT, ALPHA UNIT LOCATED. ALL UNITS, CEASE HOSTILITIES. SUBJECT IDENTIFIED: MEGA MAN X."

X's eyes widened and his mouth hung open in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Wha.. What's the Alpha Unit?"

"THE ALPHA UNIT IS THE ORIGINAL MODEL. THE DESIGN OF ALL UNITS IS DERIVED FROM THE ALPHA UNIT: MEGA MAN X."

_The Alpha Unit… _X thought to himself, processing this revelation. _Does that mean someone found my capsule again? I only hope that this isn't the start of a new set of wars._ X was roused from his thoughts by the voice of the conductor.

"Hey, you ready to go? Unless you wanna ride on one of the flat-bed cars, you'll have to ride in the front with me." X sighed, still unsure of the new information.

"Sure," he said as he pulled the door back down. "I'll ride in front." Darkness returned to the car as the AK-130s powered down.

Somewhere far away, on a hilltop covered with grass the same ruby color as the leaves of the trees in the surrounding forest, a figure stood. As purple armor glistened in the sunlight and a chilling wind blew, the helmeted figure stared out over the forest, like it was waiting for someone. Waiting for X.

********************************************************************************…..

It had been about two hours he'd waited now. Two hours since he'd arrived at his perch.

_Two hours since I got to this damn hill, _the figure thought to himself._ I swear, if that bastard lied to me…._ The figure's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a train whistle. _Finally._ The figure looked over to his left and activated the telescopic sight of his helmet. Sure enough, a black train was speeding along through the forest. He took off at a run and slid down the side of the hill, clumps of dirt and red grass tearing out of the ground beneath him. He dug his heels in as he came to the bottom of the hill, stopping and hiding behind a rock just as the train was about to pass. He couldn't afford to be seen. Not yet. One, two, three, four. The cars passed him by. The first three were container cars- not suitable for his plan. The last two were flatbed cars. They would work perfectly. As the fifth and final car passed by, he reached out and grabbed the ladder on the side, pulled along by the train's momentum. Sparks shot up behind him as his feet dragged across the rails, the burning product of metal and friction. He pulled himself up onto the car to find several large containers of Dust, what he had come for. At least, that's what he had let his new "partner" believe. He turned towards one of the containers and raised his arm. Some of the metal plating on his armor slid back to reveal two holes, one on either side of his hand. A pair of red missiles shot out and sped towards the container. The missiles punched through the metal box, and the flames jetting out from behind them caused a reaction with the Fire Dust crystals contained within the box. The Dust and the missiles exploded into a massive burst of flame that sent white-hot pieces of the container out into the air. As the flames died down, columns of smoke flowed into the air, and some of the metal of the car had melted into slag.

Within the conductor's cabin, both the conductor and X heard the massive explosion, which had set off an alarm.

"What the hell was that!?" the conductor yelled over the warning siren.

"It's gotta be the White Fang!" X replied. "Who else would attack the train, or even know where it was?" The conductor slammed his hand down onto a button on the control board, and the alarm stopped. He breathed out slowly.

"Don't worry, that button activates the AK-130s. They'll have the situation taken care of in no time.

Back on the outside of the train, the attacker looked towards the nearest boxcar, and watched as a metal door opened up to reveal the AKs. The robots all rushed out onto the flatbed car he was on, and activated their arm blades. The AK in front spoke the same sentence it had earlier said to X.

"INTRUDER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF."

"…Not even worth my time." He spat at the robots, face obscured by his helmet. "He's in there, isn't he? X. He's who I'm after." The lead AK hesitated for a moment, as if processing what the train's assailant had said. Then, it issued a command to the rest of the robots.

"ALL UNITS, DEFEND THE ALPHA UNIT AT ANY COST. INTRUDER, IDENTIFY YOURSELF OR BE TERMINATED."

"Ha. Hahaha." He chuckled at the robots. The laugh quickly grew into a demented cackle, filled with rage and hatred.

"HAHAHAHA. HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! YOU, terminate ME!? The likes of you shouldn't even try! Maybe scrapping a few dozen of you will draw X out." He reached up and brought down the cannon that rested above his right shoulder, which had several feed and support cables connected to a backpack. The cannon also had a feed slot on the side where a long clip of bullets was set. The leading AK rushed forward with its blades outstretched. Before it made contact, a blue ball of energy surrounded by a ring of violet burst out of the cannon, and exploded into blue light when it contacted the AK. Within a moment, the lead AK had been destroyed, and more orbs of light burst back towards the crowd of AK-130s behind it. A chain reaction was set off. Every time an orb contacted an AK, it would explode, and more orbs would shoot out towards more robots, until they had all been obliterated in a mass of explosions.

One final orb drifted into the metal door of the boxcar, tearing it off its hinges and sending the twisted metal off into the forest, where it embedded itself into a tree.

Inside the conductor's cabin, the inhabitants heard the roar of a second explosion.

"Guh," X clenched his teeth. "That's it. I'm gonna go see what's going on out there." X ran out of the car.

All three boxcars were empty as X ran through them, and the third had a missing door at the back. X ran out onto the flatbed, and assessed the situation. "Oh, no. the Ak-130s!" scattered across the flatbed were pieces of metal that had once been the AKs. Broken blades, arms, legs, and shattered armor was strewn throughout the area. But there was no sign of the White Fang anywhere.

X looked on in shock at the scene. "Wha.. What happened here?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" X heard a familiar laugh he hadn't heard in centuries come from behind him, and the blue Reploid spun around to look at the top of the car.

**Begin music: Xenoblade Chronicles OST- One Who Gets In Our Way**

"Man, has our race devolved so far that we're only mindless robots!? How pathetic." X's eyes widened and he looked on in shock as Vile jumped down onto the flatbed. Vile looked just as X remembered him from centuries past. His armor had a deep purple sheen, with gold highlights around the edges. The armor covering his hands and feet was alabaster white, and the purple, face obscuring helmet he wore had a bright red "V" in the center of the forehead. Vile's arms were crossed, and his shoulder cannon was propped up menacingly.

"VILE?! How are you still alive?! You were destroyed centuries ago!"

Vile tilted his head to the side. "Yeah, I was, wasn't I? YOU destroyed me, X," he said with anger. "You and Zero. But it doesn't matter HOW I came back. What matters is WHY." X snarled at Vile, one of the few people who could legitimately make him angry.

"And why's that, Vile?" he spat.

"…." Vile was silent for a moment. Then he spoke with an eerie calm in his voice. "I came back to show you, X. To prove to you that you are capable of nothing. To destroy you, and grind that scrap you call a body beneath my heel. I'll show you, X. I'LL BE THE ONE TO CHANGE THE WORLD! ZERO'S NOT HERE TO SAVE YOU THIS TIME!"

Vile leaned his leg forward, and the plating on his knee slid back to reveal a lighter. A stream of emerald flames arced out from Vile's knee, heading towards X. X rolled to the side and fired off his Buster at the Maverick.

"Damn!" Vile cursed. The flamethrower system always left him open if it was avoided. Three bursts of solar energy slammed into his chest, pushing him towards the side of the car. This wasn't like the practice fight with Cardin. X knew how dangerous Vile was, what he could do. X wasn't holding back. More and more pellets of energy pounded against Vile's armor from one of X's Busters as he charged energy with the other.

The constant barrage of shots had begun to piss Vile off. He brought up his left arm, and his hand detached and shot forward, propelled by cyan flames. Vile's fist struck X in the face, breaking his fire and knocking him back towards the railing of the car. X rolled with the punch's momentum, and managed to stop himself from going over the side of the flatbed. He stood back up, and aimed both of his arms at Vile. Both hands morphed, revealing twin X-Busters. The charge that X had built up was different than usual. Normally, the electricity that traced the Buster would be blue. This time, violet electricity arced across the Busters.

"Take this, Vile!" X yelled as he let the charge out of one of his Busters. A blast of violet energy encircled by rings of green burst forth towards Vile, who jumped out of the way. The attack instead impacted a container of Dust, which exploded into a giant mound of ice. _Sorry, Weiss, _X thought._ But I have to stop Vile!_ X fired the second charge at where it seemed Vile would land. This charge was just like the first, only it was trailed by several smaller green and orange shots.

Vile landed right in the path of the attack, and brought up his arms to block. A cloud of smoke sprung up when the shots connected. X stayed on guard, waiting for Vile to become visible again. Vile's hand burst out of the smoke and grabbed X around the neck.

"Gah! G- gahh…"

"HAHAHAHA! Looks like you've only gotten weaker during your nap! I have no idea how you ever defeated me twice, but today, it's all over for you!"

Vile slammed X down onto the bed of the car and savagely stomped on his chest, the force denting the car. Vile brought down his cannon and aimed it at X's head. The cannon began to charge with green light. "END OF THE LINE, X!"

Before Vile could fire, an unknown burst of energy tore through the feed cables on his backpack, dissipating his cannon's charge. "What the Hell?!" Vile shouted. The purple Maverick turned to see another shot, azure ringed with gold, barreling towards him. He jumped away from the shot, which grazed the unarmored part of his arm, burning away the "skin" to reveal the metal skeleton underneath.

When Vile landed, clutching his injured arm, he saw a mysterious cloaked figure helping X up.

"X, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful?" the figure spoke in a voice that raised X's spirit. A voice he never thought he'd hear again.

"Z-Zero? Is that you?" X said in disbelief. The figure didn't answer, just stared Vile down.

"Leave this one to me, X." the figure spoke. The figure threw the tattered cloak over the side of the train, and it sailed off on the wind. The figure's body was styled similarly to X's, only a majority of the armor was red. The arm guards were silver and the plating around the ankles was gold. The shoulder armor was blocky, white, and the left had a stylized "Z" on it. The figure's helmet was red, horned, and featured a sharper, blue crystal than X's smooth red one. The figure had long blond hair that flowed freely in the wind. X didn't know how, but Zero was alive, and he'd saved X yet again.

**Begin music: Mega Man X Command Mission OST: Standby, Zero**

"Heh, I should've known you'd show up, Zero. After all, I came back, so why wouldn't you?" Vile looked over to X. The blue Reploid appeared to have gotten his second wind. He was back on his feet and ready to fight, and he had Zero to back him up in Round 2. _Dammit, Zero's attack disabled my bombs, lasers, and vulcans… _"I had only expected to find that pathetic B-Class Hunter here. Now that you're back, I can have a REAL fight."

"Hmph. Tough talk for a Maverick, Vile," Zero said. "Do you really think you can take both of us on at once?" Vile didn't answer. Instead he raised his uninjured arm and fired a green missile that split apart to reveal three smaller ones that arced towards the Hunters. X and Zero dashed forward, under the missiles, firing their Busters at Vile. Unable to block properly due to his damaged arm, the blasts impacted Vile's helmet, the flashes obscuring his vision. Vile didn't react. When the Hunters reached Vile, they both brought one of their legs up and kicked Vile in the chest, sending him over the railing of the car, off of the train, and into the forest.

**End Music**

X breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. For now. X and Zero turned towards each other. "Zero, how- how are you alive?" Zero thought for a moment.

"Beats me, X," he said. "Before I woke up I had a dream of a figure wrapped in light. The figure mentioned something about repairing me, but that was all I could understand. X, it was the same figure from my nightmares."

"…Oh." At this point, the conductor popped out of where the door to the boxcar used to be.

"Whoa. What the hell happened out here? And who's that red guy?" he asked.

"This a friend of yours, X?" Zero questioned.

"Heh. No, I was just asked to help guard his train from a group called the White Fang. But, I ran into Vile instead." X frowned. _It almost seemed like Vile let himself get knocked off the train._

"Look, it doesn't matter what happened out here, as long as most of the Dust is safe. I just came out here to tell you we'll be arriving at our stop soon. You need a ride back?"

"No, thanks," X responded to the conductor. "Hey Zero. After we drop off this stuff, I'll show you where I've been staying. It has a comms tower, so we can just warp back."

"Sure X. I've had enough fighting for one day."

**Atlas**

The man known as James Ironwood sat in his office, attempting to finish some work on his computer he received a message.

"General Ironwood, sir. An urgent report has come in from one of the AK-130 units, Serial Number MMD12171987."

"Very well," Ironwood replied. "Play the message."

"ALPHA UNIT LOCATED. REPEAT, ALPHA UNIT LOCATED. ALL UNITS, CEASE HOSTILITIES. SUBJECT IDENTIFIED: MEGA MAN X."

Ironwood's eyes widened. The Alpha Unit had been found. "Where did this report come from?"

"It came from Vale, sir."

_Vale_, Ironwood thought. _Perhaps I'll have to pay Ozpin a visit soon._ "Inform Penny's father of this development immediately, and get me a recording of the message stored in that capsule."

"Yes sir." Ironwood ended the call.

"So, Mega Man X has been located, and by Ozpin no less," he said to himself. "Soon, I will be able to perfect the design of the Beta Unit. Soon."

**END OF CHAPTER**

**Brownie points to whoever can figure out the reference I put in this chapter.**

**Zero and Vile have taken the stage! I'd wanted to use Vile's theme from X8 for the fight with him, but decided to save that for when he and X are more evenly matched. Sorry this took so long, I've starting college soon, so I had a lot of stuff to get in order, and a few of my keys wouldn't work properly. Like the "G" key. To make up for how long it's been, I've decided to add a "side-story" to the beginning of the next chapter that shows how Vile found X. Thanks for your patience.**

**Vile's weapons used in this chapter are, in order of appearance, the Humerus Crush, Fire Murrain, Dragon's Wrath, Infinity Gig, Nervous Ghost, and Popcorn Demon.**


End file.
